Pagination vs Infinite Scroll — What's the Difference?

Pagination divides a large result set into discrete, numbered pages the user navigates between; infinite scroll automatically loads more results as the user scrolls down, with no distinct page boundaries.

Why they differ

• Pagination gives users a clear sense of total size and lets them jump to a specific page or bookmark a position
• Infinite scroll feels more fluid for casual browsing but makes it hard to return to a specific earlier position, and can hurt performance if too much content accumulates in the DOM

How to choose

• Use pagination for data-dense interfaces like admin tables, search results, or anything users need to reference precisely
• Use infinite scroll for casual content-browsing feeds, like social media, where users typically scroll forward rather than search for a specific past item

FAQ

Does infinite scroll hurt SEO?

It can, if content loaded only via JavaScript scrolling isn't otherwise reachable through crawlable URLs — many sites address this by also offering a paginated URL structure underneath an infinite-scroll UI.